Lingering and Fulfillment
by mediaocrity4
Summary: Nino and Miku deal with the lingering feelings of their first love while taking the next steps to fulfill their dream of running a restaurant.


**AN: So, after the last few chapters of the manga I was hit by inspiration. You'd think I'd do something with After the Wedding but….right now my heart is here. I'm head over heels for Miku and Nino's dynamic and I wanted a story to express that.**

Chapter 1: Lingering

Nino was the first one up that day. She made herself some tea and sat in silence. She had dreamed about him. Something lingered inside her chest. He was gone. He had moved to Tokyo. The only one who had the free time to visit him on the rare occasion he was free was Yotsuba.

Nino remembered crying herself to sleep several times since that day. She felt nothing but dread and regret knowing Yotsuba was happy in a way she wasn't. Jealousy was an ugly thing. Nino hated it. She wanted to truly, honestly accept them as a couple. But it hurt. It was excruciating thinking about them, together, happy.

"What's wrong?" Miku's voice was calming. Nino blinked in response. She felt damp streaks cooling her cheeks. She hadn't even realized she had begun to cry.

"I don't like how quiet it is in the mornings." Nino lamented. Itsuki was living away from home, attending college to be a teacher. Ichika was filming in Kyoto and would be gone for a few weeks. That just left the three middle quintuplets. Nino felt like her world was falling apart. She knew they would all drift apart eventually. It was only a matter of time before Ichika officially moved out. And Yotsuba would move in with Fuutarou someday. Itsuki also wanted to get her own place. That just left Miku, the one Nino bickered with the most, as the one with no immediate plans to leave her.

"I see." Miku said as she made herself a cup of tea and joined her on the couch.

"How did you do it?" The question had been on Nino's mind ever since graduation. "How did you move on? Didn't you love him first?" The other girl didn't even turn to face her.

"Is that what has you upset?" Miku asked.

"No." Nino scoffed. "As if I would cry over some stupid boy. I was just worrying about…"

"It's okay Nino." Miku interrupted her. She spun around with her tea in hand and sat down next to her. "All I can say is that I found value in myself. I found a love for myself nobody can take away. So I have no regrets. And I don't regret loving Fuutarou either. It's thanks to him that I was able to find so many things I could be confident in."

"It's all his fault." Nino snickered. "Thanks to him I was able to grow up and realize how much I value all of you and better myself. So then why do I feel like I'm the only one…"

Nino was interrupted by a ringing phone. She pulled it out of her pocket and saw it was from Raiha. That was an odd occurrence. Raiha had gotten closer to the quints but usually only called Itsuki or Yotsuba.

"Hello?" Nino answered her phone.

"Hey, Nino." Raiha said. "What are you and Miku doing today?"

"Miku is here with me." Nino said. She lowered the phone and put it on speaker so her sister could hear.

"There was something my dad was wanting to discuss with you. Can you come by?" Raiha asked.

"Sure." Nino said. "We'll be there soon." She hung up the phone and sighed.

"You think it has to do with Fuutarou?" Miku asked.

"If it did she probably would have asked for Yotsuba." Nino shrugged. "I have no idea what Pops wants."

Nino and Miku got dressed and headed across town to the Uesugi house. Isanari was waiting outside the building. He lingered by the door of an old shop that had long since closed down. Nino had been curious about it. The Uesugis lived in a busy part of town. A shop like this should be able to do well. Yet, it looked like nobody had so much as entered the building in years.

"I'm glad you girls made it." Isanari said.

"What's this about?" Nino asked. Isanari sighed and turned towards the locked door of the shop.

"The two of you are going to culinary school right?"

"That's right." Miku said. "It's going pretty well."

"I see." There was something off about Isanari. Usually he was the opposite of Fuutarou. He was outgoing, boisterous, a care-free spirit. This was different. The look in his eye reminded both girls of how Fuutarou would look at them when he was proud. "My late wife had the same dream." He pulled a key out of his pocket and opened the door. "We took out a loan to buy this place. It's why we were in so much depth."

"This place….?" Miku's eyes went wide.

"It never got finished before my wife died in an accident." Isanari sighed. "The two of you share her dream. The five of you helped my son more than you know. My wife would love you. If she were alive, she would have employed you in a heartbeat. And now it's looking like you missies are going to be part of the family. Not only that but Fuutarou tutoring you lot helped pay off the debt I accumulated by holding onto this place. So, I want to give this to you."

"I…" Nino stammered. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"It would be an honor." Miku said. "We will keep your wife's dream alive."

"Thank you." Isanari said.

Nino ran to the store and acquired cleaning supplies. As she headed back to the restaurant she thought about the strange feeling inside her. Was it okay for her to be so close to Fuutarou's family knowing full well that she wasn't over him. What would Yotsuba think? Was Miku really okay with all this? One of the things that created a feeling of emptiness was how easy and convenient it seemed. Maybe it was destiny. Maybe that's why she and Miku were cursed to fall in love with a man who wouldn't reciprocate. Without that, the restaurant would continue to never be used, and the Nakano sisters would have a harder time fulfilling their dream. But was this a reward for the pain they had gone through, or a punishment for their lingering feelings?

When she arrived back with the supplies, Miku had already swept most of the floor. Nino filled a bucket with soap and water to mop the floors. Miku finished sweeping, put on gloves and started scrubbing the walls. Isanari hooked up Miku's laptop to some speakers he had lying around to play some music. Since it was Miku's laptop, she played whatever she wanted but was sure to play plenty of songs for Nino to sing while she worked as well.

Hours of scrubbing and mopping later and the two girls were exhausted. Raiha had already made enough dinner for them. Isanari recounted tales of his late wife and Fuutarou's childhood. It was fun, warm, and an undeniably welcoming atmosphere. But the issues at hand were still lingering.

"What does Papa think of this?" Nino asked.

"Maruo? I don't think he'll mind. He's supported your dreams up to this point, right?" Isanari exclaimed.

"Yeah." Nino sighed.

"And Fuutarou?" Miku asked. The question lingered for a short time. Isanari sighed and shook his head.

"He doesn't know. He's been really busy lately." Raiha answered.

"I understand how awkward it can be." Isanari said. "The two of you had just as much of a crush on him as Yotsuba does. But we're all family now. You're going to have to get comfortable with the fact that he chose your sister and will continue to be a part of your life for as long as you're all quintuplets."

Nino's head hung low. As happy as she was to be forever a part of their lives, there was still dread and regret. Her mind started to fixate on every mean thing she had ever said and done. Because of all those mistakes, he surely hated her. That's why he chose Yotsuba, loving, kind, forever and always supportive Yotsuba. What hope did she ever really have of competing with that after what she had done.

"I'm sure with time we'll be alright." Miku said as she grabbed Nino's hand. The quiet girl was a soothing presence for the familial idiot. Come to think once upon a time it had been Miku who believed she'd never be good enough and could never compete with the likes of Ichika. This must have been her subtle way of telling Nino there was still light at the end of this tunnel.

"Thank you for everything." Nino said. "We should get going though."

"You're more than welcome to stay here with me." Raiha said.

"Thanks for the offer." Miku said. "But Nino gets really cranky if she doesn't sleep with her stuffed toys."

"I do not!" Nino's face turned a shade darker than her hair.

"You two have a good night." Miku chuckled.

After they arrived back home the two girls decided to bathe together to save on hot water and time. They let the steaming waters soak into their every curve to relax their muscles. In the meantime they made small talk about the weather and what kind of restaurant they were going to run and what the name should be. For now, neither were in a creative mood so they settled for "Nakanos."

"Miku…" Nino said after a long pause.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for everything." She sniffled. "I don't know what I'd do if you left me so soon."

"I understand. I won't always be there for you. But I'll stay so long as I have this lingering feeling. And maybe together we'll take the next step forward." Nino slid over and wrapped Miku in a hug. The third sister clinched up for a second before relaxing and returning the hug. "Thank you." They said in unison.

**AN: This took longer to write than I expected. I didn't know what to do as far as "plot" goes. I really just wanted to do a story about the pain, resentment, jealousy, hopelessness and all those other dark emotions Nino (and to a lesser extent) Miku would be feeling so soon after their first real heartbreak. There might be another chapter or two later down the line but this is it for now.**


End file.
